Recap /
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S2 E3 "Lesson Zero"

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Twilight Sparkle:We haven't sent a letter to Princess Celestia this week!?Spike: Why? Is that bad? Twilight Sparkle: Bad? Bad?! Of course it's bad! I'm supposed to send Princess Celestia a letter every week telling her a lesson I've learned about friendship! Not every other week! Not every ten days!EVERY! SINGLE! WEEK!

Written by Meghan McCarthy

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Today is a typical day for Twilight Sparkle: Order parchment, drop off laundry, pick up cupcakes for a picnic, make a ridiculous amount of checklists, the usual. Everything seems to be in order, until she realizes what she hasn't done — send her weekly letter to Princess Celestia about what she's learned on friendship. The last letter she sent was last Tuesday... and today is Tuesday. Twilight begins to panic, convinced that missing the deadline will get her sent back to Magic Kindergarten. Needing something to put in a letter, she decides to visit her friends, trying to find one with a problem that needs solving.

Twilight Sparkle:Sooooo... got any problems, troubles, conundrums, or any other sort of issues major or minor that I as a good friend could help you solve? (grin!)Spike: Hum...hmm...huh...huuuh...I got nothing.

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Her first stop is Rarity's boutique, just as the fashonista is having an epic meltdown. It turns out she's lost a ribbon, which she finds a few seconds later. False alarm.

Next stop is Sweet Apple Acres, where Rainbow Dash is wildly demolishing one of Applejack's barns. Clearly the two ponies are having a fight, and Twilight must intercede! But it turns out to be a misunderstanding; Applejack wants to build a new barn and has asked Rainbow Dash to tear down the old one, which she promptly accomplishes with a spectacular aerial dive and the Sonic Rainboom.

Growing desperate, Twilight moves on to Fluttershy's place, since the timid pony always has problems to work out. She arrives to see Fluttershy beating the crap out of a bear, and laments her finally growing a spine on the one day she needed her to be a scaredycat. As Twilight leaves, we learn Fluttershy was actually performing chiropractic therapy for him.

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By the time she meets her friends for the picnic, Twilight is panicking to the brink of insanity. Although her friends dismiss her concerns as overblown, Twilight becomes even more convinced that Princess Celestia will be furious if she doesn't get her letter in on time.

By the time the stampede of fighting ponies reaches the picnic, it's sundown, rendering Twilight's efforts meaningless. To make matters worse, Princess Celestia arrives. She quickly removes the spell and restores everyone to normalcy (despite the spell's dispersal, Big Macintosh grabs the dollwith a triumphant whinny and runs), then sternly orders Twilight to meet her at the library. As Twilight leaves, her friends finally realize they shouldn't have been so dismissive of her fears earlier.

At the library, Twilight explains that she caused all the chaos out of her fears of not being a good student; just as Celestia starts reassuring her, her friends pour in and defend Twilight, blaming themselves for not helping her sooner. Princess Celestia was concerned and worried, but not genuinely as furious as Twilight feared, but everypony else, on seeing her arrival, took it with the same exaggerated seriousness Twilight had expressed. Celestia decides to "forgive" Twilight on one condition: that from here on out, all of her friends join in the letter-writing... but only when they actually have lessons to report.

And how did Celestia know to arrive? Spike wrote her about Twilight Sparkle's anxiety, which prompts the touched pony to offer her thanks with a hug. Once Celestia's on her way back to Canterlot, the group settles down to write a joint letter about what they've learned: that you shouldn't dismiss your friend's worries even if they are blown out of proportion, and that you shouldn't let your fears turn a small problem into a big problem. Spike tries to add a paragraph to the letter lauding his having been the only one to take Twilight's concerns seriously, but Twilight makes him nix it. Everypony laughs.

The Plot Device du jour; instead of happening as a consequence of the plot, the plot is for Twilight to find the consequence itself.

In addition, two aesops were ultimately learned: that you shouldn't let fear and panic turn a small problem into a big one, and that you shouldn't simply dismiss a friend's concerns just because you find them to be trivial.

Aesop Amnesia: Twilight doesn't seem to get it that sweating over small problems just makes bigger problems (as seen in "Swarm of the Century" and "A Bird in the Hoof"). If anything, she's worse about it than before. Also like these two episodes, she's deathly afraid of disappointing the princess, even though she has absolutely no reason to fear her. Hell; if nothing else, saving the world twice should be enough to let her forgive a few mistakes.

Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Twilight Sparkle delivers a pat on the head to Rainbow Dash when she tries to figure out the Pegasus's reason for being angry with Applejack. Turns out there was no interpony conflict to begin with.

Ambidextrous Sprite: The overhead shot of the picnic seems to confirm that, yes, a pony's cutie mark is on both sides of a pony's rear. Before, there was much debate as to whether this was true or not (due to being made in Flash, where sprites are easily flipped to signify change in direction). And shown to be mirrored on both sides, eg., Rainbow Dash's bolt moves down and towards her rear regardless of which side you look at her.

And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Princess Celestia amends the format of this a bit. Now she wants the whole cast to write the letters, but only when there's an actual lesson learned, lifting Twilight's (self-imposed) burden of having to send them weekly. This episode ends with the whole Mane Cast giving the aesop as opposed to just Twilight in all previous episodes.

Anticlimax: Twilight building up why missing a letter means her doom to the other Mane cast. With each step of Twilight's Insane Troll Logic, they lean in and ask "Yes?" more anxiously, expecting it to be something bad. Only to breathe a sigh of relief and giggle when they find out the truth.

Apple of Discord: Twilight tries to use her old Smarty Pants doll as one of these. It works after she uses a "Want-It Need-It" spell on it. Far too well. Said doll is working as such even before the spell in question (although not as Twilight intended), see Failed a Spot Check below.

Big Ball of Violence: There are nearly a dozen simultaneous Balls of Violence. It would be easier to name characters that weren't in one in this episode. Special mention goes to a pair of background ponies that exist as part of the Background Six (the six most popular of the background characters). Lyra and Bon Bon get their own ball. No-one else.

Big Brother Instinct: Spike constantly tries to calm Twilight over her Super OCD breakdown, and ultimately calls Princess Celestia after her neurotics worry him more and more.

Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the first season, the animators often used anime-esque abstract backgrounds for close-ups, to get around the fact they had to create all of the art assets from scratch and didn't have time to create unique background plates for each shot. In this, the first episode of season 2* "The Return of Harmony" was produced as part of season one, when an abstract backdrop appears behind Twilight, Spike pushes it out of the way, signifying to the audience that the show now has the resources and time to focus on creating a more unique and dynamic style.

Broken Smile: Twilight, toward the end of her breakdown, becomes more and more deranged in her smiles.

Chronic Hero Syndrome: Twilight develops a very extreme case of this, insistent on finding a friendship problem to solve.

Circle of Shame: During Twilight's vision about being sent back to Magic Kindergarten she is surrounded by taunting peers.

Comedic Sociopathy: In her mad search for a friendship problem to solve, Twilight reacts with glee when she thinks Rarity is having a crisis, and again when she thinks Rainbow Dash is angry at Applejack. And when Twilight thinks she sees Fluttershy attacking a bear and snapping its neck, her only reaction is "Of all the days she had to stop being such a scaredy pony, she had to pick today!"

Conflict Ball: Twilight invokes the trope in order to have some situation occur that she can learn an aesop from. However, it gets a lot worse than she had intended.

When crazed Twilight sticks her head out of the bush near where the CMC are, the bird's nest on her head turns into the one she made in "Winter Wrap Up". Could be taken as a case of Prop Recycling given the Flash-based nature of the show.

The first season had a running theme of the Mane Cast freaking out when their individual special talents failed them. Twilight's talent was Magic. This episode is about her other special talent: Learning.

The blast wave from Rainbow Dash's destruction of the barn looks very much like the one from a Sonic Rainboom.

Applejack tells Twilight not to sweat the small stuff, the same message AJ had for Rarity in "Look Before You Sleep".

Control Freak: The full extent of a situation where absolutely nothing and no one is working the way Twilight demands is shown in a rather unsettling fashion here. Her breakdown escalates to the point she actually tries to brainwash some ponies to make a friendship problem for her.

Cue the Sun: Inverted and played with. Twilight's deadline is the end of the day, so as soon as the sun sets, it's too late. That is, until immediately afterwards, Celestia (you know, the one with the sun cutie mark) appears in a burst of light.

Description Cut: Princess Celestia shows up looking angry with Twilight after she manages to brainwash the entire town into a riot over her old doll. She tells Twilight to meet her in the library. Twilight and friends worry that she'll be sent back to Canterlot. Cut to the library, where Celestia is busy explaining to Twlight that she's gotten all worked up over nothing.

Deus ex Machina: Twilight, the only pony who isn't affected by the "Want It, Need It" spell on Smarty Pants, can't remove it because every pony that sees it just adds another body to the brawl over it. Instead, Princess Celestia removes it herself upon her Dramatic Entrance to Ponyville. If you accept the fanon regarding Celestia's divinity that means the problem is literally removed by the abrupt intervention of a deity.

What Twilight goes through is reminiscent of an Asperger's meltdown: She becomes increasingly anxious about failing to send a friendship report on time, is extremely prone to yelling, and appears to have lost her sanity, before breaking down completely until Celestia arrives.

Dog Pile of Doom: The ponies of the town attempt this on Big Macintosh. It... doesn't work so well for them.

Editorial Synaesthesia: Twilight's rage, illustrated by her getting red in the face, is also accompanied by the whistling sound of a teakettle coming to a boil.

Empathic Environment: A windmill and the sun tick and move like the hands of a clock. This only starts happening the moment Twilight realizes she'll be tardy; at least two establishing shots before show the windmill moving normally.

Escalating Brawl: Twilight puts a love spell on a ratty old toy to get the Cutie Mark Crusaders to fight over it. But because Twilight's in the middle of a freak out, the spell is so strong that anypony who sees the toy wants it and gets into the fight. It probably doesn't help that the first pony she asks for help in taking the doll by force is Big Macintosh. By the end of the episode there's a Big Ball of Violence involving everyone in Ponyville except the core cast.

Everything Makes a Mushroom: When Rainbow Dash decides to apply the Sonic Rainboom as a demolition charge, it produces a rainbow-colored mushroom cloud.

Everything's Better with Plushies: Inverted, since the plushie in question has a spell put on it by a frazzled Twilight Sparkle that causes all of Ponyville to start fighting over it. Double Subverted thanks to Big Mac, who is still fascinated by the doll even after the "Want-It Need It" spell is broken.

Spike's means of wrapping his Overly Long Tongue around himself, and then pulling it back, spinning himself around while managing to gather up all the cupcake frosting Twilight splattered on him and eat it.

Evolving Credits: The opening sequence gets its first significant change in this episode. The background in the scene where Twilight lands in her balloon now has a train (one that is self-powered, at that), the music is slightly altered even though the lyrics remain the same (some parts have been rerecorded), and Celestia magically opening Twilight's letter at the end uses her new yellow glow. It fails to update Twilight's teleportation, though, using the same basic white flash as in the first season.

Twilight was so dead-set on getting the Cutie Mark Crusaders to fight over being the first to play with Smarty Pants that she completely failed to notice that they already were fighting... over not being the first to play with Smarty Pants. Though in her defense, that's not the kind of fighting she needed.

Her aesop could also have been "Don't try to fix something that isn't broken" or "Enjoy the times when you haven't any trouble".

There's also Rarity, who goes into full drama queen mode (the first of many such instances during the episode) when she can't find her ribbon. Five seconds after Twilight shows up, Rarity finds it... lying in the middle of the floor.

Minor example: Six ponies going to a picnic, extra cupcake in baker's dozen getting frosting on the one next to it, baby dragon drooling over the cupcakes. Why not just give Spike the extra cupcake?

Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: Rainbow Dash wears safety goggles when helping to bring down Applejack's barn, even though she's smashing head-first through the walls and kicking the rafters. Applejack has the actual helmet, even though she's already cowering in a trench to avoid the shrapnel. The helmet proves useful when a pile of debris comes down on top of her. Averted for Twilight, who is never given a helmet but survives being crushed by debris without a scratch. Well, her mane gets messed up a bit.

Twilight has one in the beginning of the episode, which spirals into full Sanity Slippage as she tries and fails to remedy the situation.

Parodied by Rarity, who performs absurdly over-the-top ones for the most minor things possible.

Freudian Couch: Twilight has to substitute a bench for an actual couch, but otherwise pulls it off exactly. Add in her half-moon glasses and her impromptu hairdo change into a Prim and Proper Bun, and this becomes Adorkable.

Full-Name Ultimatum: While Celestia has casually referred to Twilight by her full name before, her tone in this case certainly invokes this trope.

Funny Background Event: At the beginning of the picnic scene, Pinkie Pie uncovers her basket, only to reveal balloons tied to it for no apparent reason... apart from the fact that it's Pinkie Pie, that is. Along with an understandably confused Fluttershy, she watches the basket float away. Taken even farther when Pinkie stares right AT us, and then looks sad. Maybe because we didn't get joke?note The balloons are a subtle Mythology Gag to the G3 theme song.

Imagine Spot: Twilight has several throughout the episode, all of which are interrupted by Spike.

Inferiority Superiority Complex: Twilight's perfectionism and smug assurance of her friends needing her help hides her deeply scarred woes over being branded a failure for so much as one slip up.

Insane Troll Logic: Twilight's fears amount to this. To paraphrase her thought process: "If I'm late with this single assignment, Celestia will make me take a test. Students who don't pass this test get sent back a grade. Since Celestia is the ruler of Equestria, she holds me to a higher standard and will send me all the way back to Magic Kindergarten." Spike lampshadeshow ridiculous this is.

Insufferable Genius: Spike gets this way briefly when writing the Aesop at the end with a touch of embellishment, but a disapproving head shake from Twilight prompts him to cut it out.

Ironic Echo: Sweetie Belle's "I really like her mane" used as a phony agreement with Twilight, then as a reflection of her brainwashed state.

Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: What Twilight did as a result of her fit of Insane Troll Logic (See above). She is so intent on averting her mentor's wrath that clearly it's okay for her to drive a wedge between the Cutie Mark Crusaders if she's there to fix it right away. And when that fails, it's also justified for her to put a spell on her doll that makes people fight over it, right? It's all in the name of learning a valuable lesson. (Yes, this is a Villain Trope, but really, Twilight Sparkle was acting on ill-mannered intentions.)

Knight Templar: Twilight wants to avert her mentor's wrath by creating an Apple of Discord via her Smarty Pants Doll, so that she'll have a problem to solve. However, the entire population gets attracted to it, turning the scenery into a Big Ball of Violence.

Long List: Twilight's list of things to do for the day is several yards long.

Lost Aesop: While the other ponies learn that they should take their friends' worries seriously even if they think the concern is trivial, Twilight Sparkle doesn't seem to have learned (or at least doesn't say she has learned) not to let trivial concerns get the better of her. On the other hand, the Aesop is mentioned alongside the former in their letter to Celestia, while not by Twilight herself, she is among those making it at the time, implying she agrees with it. It would explain however why the Aesop was repeated in Twilight's next spotlight episode, which she definitely gets the jist of that time.

Megaton Punch: The exact nature of what happens is left offscreen, but there's no denying that after the townsponies pile on Big Macintosh due to the "Want-It, Need-It" spell, he escapes from the swarm of ponies by sending most of them airborne in a single stroke, as well as smacking some of them over the horizon.

Big Macintosh: Nope.

Mundane Made Awesome: Despite her obvious sanity slippage, it somehow still doesn't seem at all out of character that Twilight thinks it's awesome that her childhood doll comes with her own notebook and quill for when you want to pretend she's doing her homework!

Twilight when she realizes how out of control her "Want-It, Need-It" spell has become.

The others of the Mane Six realize they made Twilight's condition worse when they dismissed her concerns, making her feel they didn't care about her. When it leads to Pinkie Pie realizing the fallout might mean they could lose Twilight, they have a Heel Realization and this moment.

Neck Snap: Fluttershy does this to a bear... as part of a therapeutic massage.

Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Twilight in trying to create a problem to be solved but the other Mane Six as well: if they had just helped Twilight find an Aesop to report when she asked them for help, she wouldn't have lost her mind and caused the whole mess in the first place.

Nightmare Face: The faces Twilight Sparkle makes as her mental state disintegrates are simultaneously hilarious and horrifying.

Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Celestia expands her request for friendship reports to the rest of the Mane Six, meaning the writers no longer have to shove Twilight into every single story as the designated character who learns a lesson.

Rainbow Dash is seen trashing an old barn on Sweet Apple Acres while Applejack hides in a nearby ditch, but it turns out Applejack has asked Rainbow Dash to tear down the barn so she can build a new one.

Fluttershy seemingly beating down then killing a bear turns out to just be a chiropractic/massage session.

A more minor one afterwards, Spike's expression after Celestia tells Twilight about him bringing her to check up on her practically reads "Uh oh, busted!" As it turns out, however...

Once per Episode: Twilight sends a letter at the end of every episode about the lesson of friendship she learned. Except this week she hasn't learned one yet... so she will make it happen. Hilarity Ensues.

When your blunder is big enough to get Princess Celestia to show up in Ponyville to yell at you, you know you've massively screwed up. Although we learn Celestia came over at Spike's request, it sure doesn't look like it at first.

Twilight herself; when the most rational pony in Ponyville is coming up with a completely irrational plan and acting like it's completely reasonable, you know something bad is going to happen. She snaps out of it pretty quickly, though.

Pet the Dog: Rarity's the only one who asked Twilight if something was bothering her and seemed pretty concerned.

Projectile Spell: Twilight speaks of "getting a clear shot" in the chaos when everyone is fighting over the doll and she's trying to disenchant it.

Properly Paranoid: Spike immediately calls Celestia for help once he realizes how downhill Twilight's situation is going. It was a pretty good move, preventing what could have been a major catastrophe, and preventing Twilight from being really sent back to magic kindergarten.

Psychological Horror: After pulling this off creepily in "Party of One", they outdo themselves to make a truly frightening episode by revealing Twilight's neurosis.

Pun-Based Title: "Lesson Zero" = "Less than zero". Compare with "Party of One": Looks like the creepier it gets, the lower the number in the title.

Rarity also pulls up a fainting couch to fall onto during her "Worst! Possible! Thing!" sessions, first in her boutique, then again in the middle of an open field. In the second instance, she explains that she didn't want to sit on the grass.

Sweetie Belle has her own, too, saying "I really like her mane." about Twilight's Smarty Pants doll. Sweetie Belle's and Rarity's gags eventually turn ... dark; the latter when Sweetie says, "I really like her mane!" and showing that she's under Twilight's "Want It, Need It" spell; and the former when Rarity thinks Twilight is leaving to return to Canterlot.

Scare Chord: Up until this point, Twilight's stress is represented by a frayed mane and evident tension in her voice. Then a fantastic one heralds the beginning of Twilight Sparkle's REAL decent into madness.

Twilight's "If I can't find a friendship problem... I'll make a friendship problem!" is comparable to "If I can't find a reindeer... I'll make one, instead!" from How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (both the live-action and cartoon versions).

Twilight emulates Gollum at one point when she starts talking to herself, even more so because she's talking to her reflection in a puddle, which has a sad expression in contrast to the fierce one of Twilight herself.

Taking the Bullet: Done figuratively. Twilight's friends try to protect her from Celestia's "judgment" when they admit their failings to the Princess, by dismissing Twilight's worries rather than realize how badly off Twilight was because of said worries. This made Twilight think her "friends" were anything but, so here they take their share of responsibility for her.

This Explains So Much: Twilight explains how her favorite toy, a Smarty Pants doll, has "her own notebook and quill, for when you want to pretend she's doing her homework", to which the Cutie Mark Crusaders (and the audience) react in this manner.

This Is Gonna Suck: As Twilight Sparkle trots off in search of a friend to help, Spike predicts, "This won't end well." Which is why he alerts Princess Celestia.

Wingding Eyes: Everypony who falls under the effect of the "Want It, Need It" spell gets hearts in their eyes. Derpy even gets derped-heart eyes.

Winged Unicorn: An animation error resulted in one being in Twilight's imaginary "magic kindergarten", though that could be chalked up to Twilight's imagination during a mental breakdown. However, the appearance of Cadance in "A Canterlot Wedding" and the unnamed princess in "Hearts and Hooves Day" shows that winged unicorns other than Celestia and Luna do exist.

Would Hit a Girl: Big Macintosh bucks dozens of mares out of his way when Mayor Mare absconds with Smarty Pants.

Would Hurt a Child: When Twilight seeks to create a friendship problem to solve, she targets the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Who were, just before Twilight appeared, laughing and playing with a beach ball and generally being the most innocent and adorable fillies in Equestria. The Mood Whiplash when Twilight shows up is quite disturbing.

I haven't made any page edits yet this week! But if I create a new trope, everybody will HAVE TO MAKE EDITS!!! *snaps* EEEHEHEHEEE!!!! What's all the commotion about? They're Edit Warring over that trope! That incredible, amazing trope!

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